Reunion
by Leila-Josette
Summary: Set during the events of Grave. What if Buffy chose not to tell Giles about Spike? Their reunion goes somewhat differently. Buffy/Giles.


"There's no one in the world who has the power to stop me now."

Willow had knocked her down again. Buffy couldn't get up. She lay on the floor of the Magic Shop, struggling to breathe from the blow to her chest. Willow was out of control. Buffy could do nothing but wait for the next blow.

And then he appeared.

"I'd like to test that theory," he said evenly.

"Giles," Buffy exhaled, summoning all her strength to pull herself up. He was here, and she wanted to stand beside him.

Buffy could sense the immense power surging through him. But he was so controlled, as always. She'd never known anyone stronger. And he would save her.

A quite word, a lift of his hand, and he had Willow trapped in a binding field.

"What did you do?" Buffy asked him. She realised her voice was shaking. Giles, the one man who she thought would never leave her. Until he did. But he was back now. She was so confused.

Buffy had been hiding her true emotions from him for so long. All her love, shielded behind a carefully crafted mask. Amiable, but distant. But when he turned to her and spoke in that soft, low voice… All her barriers fell away. Naked adoration filled her face.

The fact that he mentioned her new hair cut, that he'd noticed her as a woman, filled her with a strange, stupid hope. She flung herself at his chest and let him envelope her in his safe, strong arms. The bulk of him, his broad chest which he let her rest her head against, felt so blissful. It was like finally coming in from the cold.

Giles had missed her so much. He crushed her to him, his dear girl. He loved the feeling of her clinging desperately to him. It had been a long time since he felt so needed, and, well, loved. To have her soft arms wrapped around his neck pleased him in a way he couldn't quite catalogue.

Giles silently took Buffy by the arm and led her to the back room, leaving Anya to watch Willow.

It was their training room, the site of so many intimate nights alone with him. Touching him. Only in combat, of course. But though that was all they had ever had, it was enough. Enough to fuel her dreams.

But it was also the place where he had told her he would leave her. She had begged him to stay. Buffy, who was normally so reserved, had broken down and begged, humiliated herself to no avail. He said it was for her own good. He was unwavering. The fuel of her nightmares, as well.

She didn't know why he had really left. At first she had thought it was because he had found out where she had been after she died. Why else would he tell her he was leaving immediately after that revelation? But she couldn't understand why that would make him leave. She began to think maybe he had finally found out how she truly felt about him. He had been horrified, probably. He would never think about her as more than a daughter, and she thought even that was too good to be true. Too good to last. Maybe he was just finally sick of her problems, of having to take care of her. Perhaps he had always thought of her as a burden, and had always been looking for a chance to escape?

Giles was talking to her again, his back turned away. Light-hearted conversation. Then he was moving closer. It felt like… it felt like they were friends again. Last time she had spoken to him, it had been so horrible. But there was no note of their previous conflict the night he told her he was leaving in his voice. None of his quiet disappointment. And when she responded, there was none of her anger. All was gone, leaving just the quite intimacy of two people who knew each other better than anyone in the world. She couldn't believe it could be like this again. Buffy suddenly had the urge to spill everything to him.

Giles leant very close to her.

"Buffy, what's happened here?"

"Giles, everything's just been so… Xander left Anya at the alter, and Anya's a vengeance demon again. Dawn's a total klepto. Money's been so tight that I've been slinging burgers at the Double Meat Palace. And I-I…" and then she paused. She was about to tell him she had been sleeping with Spike. She wanted to tell him. He was looking at her expectantly.

Oh, no. But she couldn't. He couldn't know. He would turn from her. He would never look at her the same way again. She would never be held by him again. Never speak to her with that soft, low voice.

Truly, he would be disgusted. At the best, any chance that he would desire her, small though that may be, would be gone forever. More likely he'd call her a slut outright. Giles didn't seem to be the kind of man who would like to share. And Spike was everything he hated, everything they had fought against for so many years. No, he couldn't know.

"…I thought you'd left me. Forever. Everyone leaves. I couldn't believe you would ever… And then you did," she squeaked, her throat closing painfully on the last words.

"Oh, Buffy. I'm so sorry. I should never have abandoned you, dear girl," he gushed uncontrollably. Giles felt his heart tug agonizingly at the pain in her voice.

She looked up at him suddenly.

"So, you're back for good? You're staying?" Buffy said hopefully, her big eyes pleading and suspiciously bright.

"I suppose I am. If you need me so much," Giles said, half joking. His eyes crinkled as he smiled softly at her. Buffy wanted to trace her fingers over the lines.

"Giles. I do. I've been so… It's been so bad. I was dying, without you." And she began to cry softly.

Giles enveloped her in his arms again. She was so small. And crying, like a child. Here he was, stuck playing the father again. He had wanted her to act like an adult. He had left because he didn't know how else to make her. But that was stupid. And wrong to want, anyway. What had he hoped would happen? That she would begin to see him as an equal, a partner? A man?

She would never see him as a man, with a man's needs. He remembered what she had said when she walked in on him and Olivia. Old and gross was her description. It was a joke. She couldn't even fathom him as a man. And why was he so obsessed with her seeing him as such anyway?

Oh, who was he kidding, saying he was leaving her for her own good!

And then she was looking up at him again, through wide, tear-stained eyes. She suddenly leaned up and kissed him passionately. He was shocked. All his previous thoughts confounded.

Buffy kept kissing him. Although his lips were still beneath hers, he hadn't let go. She tried to put all of her love into that kiss. All of her passion. Everything she had. She used every skill she could think of to try to persuade him that she was a woman worth having. But he didn't kiss back. She tried pressing her hips closer to his, rubbing herself against him while she kissed him. And then Giles moaned and started kissing her back. His hand grasped her cheek and he angled her mouth to the side, kissing her deeper.

"Well, well," said Willow.

They separated with a shock. Buffy's heart was racing. Giles was red. He stole a glance at Buffy and saw her heaving chest and hand-tousled hair, and knew he was caught.

"Just what has Daddy been doing?" Willow said slyly, shooting him a sugary sweet smile.


End file.
